Contact - About The Cast

Contact: About The Cast

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JODIE FOSTER (Dr. Eleanor "Ellie" Arroway) won Academy Awards for Best Actress for both "The Accused" and "The Silence of the Lambs." She starred in and made her motion-picture directorial debut with the acclaimed "Little Man Tate," which she followed behind the camera with "Home for the Holidays," which she also produced.

Foster's recent starring credits include "Nell" (on which she also served as producer), "Maverick" and "Sommersby." She made her first feature, "Napoleon and Samantha," at the age of eight and became widely known for her early performances in "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore" in 1975 and "Taxi Driver" in 1976, for which she earned her first Oscar nomination. Her additional films include "Bugsy Malone," "Tom Sawyer," "Freaky Friday," "Foxes," "The Hotel New Hampshire," "The Blood of Others," "Siesta," "Stealing Home," "Five Corners," and "Shadows and Fog."

MATTHEW McCONAUGHEY (Palmer Joss) vaulted to the forefront of in-demand leading actors with his acclaimed performance this summer in Joel Schumacher's "A Time to Kill" opposite Sandra Bullock, Samuel L. Jackson and Kevin Spacey. Representing McConaughey's first leading film role, "A Time to Kill" went on to become a smash hit, earning more than $100 million in the United States alone, and confirmed the actor's bankable star quality.

McConaughey also appeared this summer in John Sayles' "Lone Star." His other notable roles include standout performances in "Dazed and Confused" and "Boys on the Side." McConaughey was most recently seen this fall in the comedy "Larger than Life" with Bill Murray.

JOHN HURT (S.R. Hadden) has been consistently honored for his work on stage, screen and television. After making his American film debut with an Oscar-nominated and Golden Globe-winning performance in "Midnight Express," he was again nominated for an Academy Award for "The Elephant Man."

Among Hurt's more than 40 other films are "A Man for All Seasons," "Alien," "The Osterman Weekend," "Champions," "Scandal," "1984," "The Field," "Rob Roy" and "Wild Bill." This year alone, Hurt starred in three independent films: "Love and Death on Long Island," "Brute" and "The Climb." He won a British TV Best Actor Award for his role as Quentin Crisp in Masterpiece Theatre's "The Naked Civil Servant" and also starred in the epic mini-series "I, Claudius." Among Hurt's most recent stage work was a year-long run on London's West End opposite Helen Mirren in "A Month in the Country."

JAMES WOODS (Michael Kitz) stars this winter as the bigoted murderer of civil-rights leader Medgar Evers in "The Ghosts of Mississippi," Rob Reiner's biographical drama, and he recently received powerful reviews for his performance in "Killer," produced by Oliver Stone. Woods also recently completed work on Martin Scorcese's "Kicked in the Head." His other credits include an Oscar-nominated performance in "Salvador," "Nixon," "The Specialist," "The Hard Way," "Straight Talk," "Immediate Family," "Diggstown," "True Believer," "The Getaway," "The Boost," "Best Seller," "The Onion Field," "Joshua, Then and Now," "The Choirboys," "Cop," "Eyewitness," "Against All Odds," "Videodrome," "Once Upon A Time in America," "Alex and the Gypsy," "Night Moves," "The Way We Were" and "The Visitors."

On the small screen, Woods earned an Emmy and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor for the Hallmark Hall of Fame production of "Promise"; an Emmy Award for "My Name is Bill W"; and an American Television Critics Best Actor Award and the Peabody Award for HBO's "Citizen Cohn."

TOM SKERRITT (David Drumlin) earned an Emmy Award for his work on "Picket Fences," in which he starred for four seasons. He recently returned to directing with the cable film "Divided by Hate," in which he also stars and which will air on the USA Network this fall. Since debuting on screen in "War Hunt," Skerritt has appeared in more than 35 films, with some of his most notable performances including starring roles in "M*A*S*H," "The Turning Point," "Alien," "Top Gun," "Steel Magnolias" and "A River Runs Through It." On television, he has starred in dozens of productions, including an acclaimed six-episode arc of "Cheers" and made-for-television movies such as "The China Lake Murders," "The Heist," "Red King, White Knight," "Child in the Night" and "Getting Up and Going Home."

DAVID MORSE (Ted Arroway) starred in this summer's action hit, "The Rock," and in the thrillers "Extreme Measures" and "The Long Kiss Goodnight." He starred for director Sean Penn in "The Crossing Guard" and "The Indian Runner," and his other film credits include "Twelve Monkeys," "The Getaway," "The Good Son," "Desperate Hours" and "Inside Moves." Television viewers know him from his role on "St. Elsewhere." He appeared on Broadway in "On the Waterfront" and Off-Broadway in "Waiting for Godot."

WILLIAM FICHTNER (Kent Clark) will be seen this fall in Kevin Spacey's directorial debut, "Albino Alligator," and in "Going West." Fichtner's film roles include "The Underneath," "Strange Days," "Heat" and "Virtuosity." He has a recurring role on the comedy series "Grace Under Fire" and has appeared on stage in "The Fiery Furnace," "Raft of Medusa," "The Balcony Scene" and "Starting Monday."

ROB LOWE (Richard Rank) made his feature-film debut in "The Outsiders" and has since starred in films including "Class," "The Hotel New Hampshire," "St. Elmo's Fire," "About Last Night," "Masquerade," "Bad Influence," "Wayne's World," "Frank and Jesse," "Tommy Boy" and "Mulholland Falls." He earned a Golden Globe nomination for his performance in "Square Dance." Lowe's notable television projects include the mini-series "The Stand," an acclaimed production of "Suddenly Last Summer" for the BBC and two films for Showtime, "On Dangerous Ground" and "Midnight Man." Recently, he wrote and directed a short film, "America Untitled," a black comedy produced by Chanticleer Films for Showtime.

ANGELA BASSETT (Rachel Constantine) received a Golden Globe Award and an Oscar nomination for her performance as Tina Turner in "What's Love Got to Do With It" and has since starred in "Waiting to Exhale," "Strange Days," "A Vampire in Brooklyn" and "Malcolm X." After appearing in acclaimed roles on Broadway in "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" and "Joe Turner's Come and Gone" and in other theatrical productions such as "Pericles" and "Henry IV, Part I," Bassett graduated to television work and film roles including "F/X," "Kindergarten Cop," "Boyz N the Hood" and "Passion Fish."

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